Fire King
by MusicRocks807
Summary: Belated birthday one-shot for the voice of Sid, John Leguizamo. Almost everyone in the herd has forgotten his birthday, but Sid finds himself comforted by Shira. While out on a walk, they encounter some strange faces from Sid's past...


**May I just say, yes I know yesterday was actually the 22nd, John Leguizamo's birthday, but I spent all day with 'Carly' then slept over at her house without warning (the one night it rains we sleep in a flipping tent!) but I did write this yesterday in a notebook, so technically I did write it on time *blushes sheepishly***

**Disclaimer - I don't own Ice Age. If I did, I would've finished this sooner and uploaded it yesterday morning.**

It was a fairly average day with the herd. The majority were lounging around in the clearing, with only Peaches, Louis, Shira and Sid absent. Peaches was hanging out with Louis, Ethan and the other mammoths, also known among the herd as the Brat Pack, Shira was out hunting, and nobody knew where Sid was.

Meanwhile, Manny was sat with Ellie, chatting about the news; one of the other mammal parents had reported sightings of a strange multitude of unusual, technicolor animals to the mammoths. Most danger reports came to the pair, as they were by far the largest mammals on the new island. Crash and Eddie were engaging in a riveting game of 'Poke-My-Twin-Brother-With-A-Stick', which, well, pretty much consisted of the two twins hitting each other with random sticks they had found moments ago.

Granny was sat on a rock, talking to herself about Precious...or perhaps she had 'adopted' another 'pet'...which basically means she was imagining another animal. Lastly, Diego was sprawled on the grass, staring into a small pool of water, wondering whether Shira was okay or not. This was her first ever solo hunt; since she had lived on that stupid ice ship her whole life, she'd never learnt to hunt properly, so Diego had taught her himself, and this was the first time she'd been all alone on a hunt.

"She'll be fine, Diego," Manny assured him, taking the sabre by surprise as he was lost in his thoughts.

"Gah!" gasped Diego, leaping to his paws at the sudden shock "Jeez Manny, thanks for the heart attack back there!"

Manny chuckled. "Sorry. But she will be, Shira's a tough girl. It's Sid I'm worried about; no-one has a clue where he is and-" before Manny even had a chance to finish his sentence, a familiar sloth burst into the clearing.

"Okay guys, I give up!" he declared boldly, spreading his arms wide.

Needless to say, everyone was confused. "Given up on what, sweetie?" asked Ellie, kindly as usual.

"Hygiene?" suggested Manny.

"Pride?" came the possums' united call.

"Finding a mate?" said Diego cruelly.

Sid scowled. "No," his face then broke into it's typical grin "On finding my surprise party! Where'd you guys hide it?"

Everyone looked around at each-other awkwardly for a moment; even Ellie hadn't caught onto the fact that today was actually Sid's birthday, despite her motherly nature, she'd just been occupied with Peaches and her boyfriend troubles. Smile faltering slightly, eyes widening in fear, Sid swallowed.

"Guys?" he paused, and when he got no answer, continued "You all forgot _again_, didn't you?"

"No, no, Sid honey, we didn't _forget_, we just..." Ellie struggled to find the correct words to keep him happy "We didn't exactly realise... I mean, we all know what your date of birth _is_ we just didn't realise that _today's _date was _that_ date..."

"So, all of you forgot?" accused Sid, sounding really hurt "Even Peaches and Shira?"

"Well..." Manny hesitated "Peaches is out with Louis and her friends..."

"And I'm not sure if I even _told _Kit- I mean, Shira, that it was your birthday, so I highly doubt that she actually has any idea..." admitted Diego, a tad sheepishly.

Sid looked horrified. "What?" he exclaimed "You didn't even _tell _her? And, and Manny, you let Peaches _go out with her friends_ today of all days?! Of every day you could've let her go and hang with Ethan you picked _today_ to loosen up? This is awful!"

"Lower your voice Sidney, you're gettin' on my nerves and disturbin' my pet!" ordered Granny, whom Sid then turned on.

"And you, my own grandmother?" he whined dramatically "My own flesh and blood?! My last, close relative who I can call-"

"Insane?" interrupted Diego "C'mon Sid, you know Granny's totally nuts."

"She is not!" Sid defended his Granny. Diego silently pointed a claw at the old sloth, who was now hobbling away with her cane, seemingly following something no-one could see.

"Billy? Billy!" she yelled at the empty air before her "Billy, stop messing around! Where are you goin'? Don't you walk away when Momma's talkin' to you!"

Diego raised an eyebrow at his sloth friend. "Really?"

"Okay, so, maybe she is, but I don't care! She was my only family member who actually _cared _about me! in fact, judging by what's happening, she's the only person who's _ever_ cared about me!"

"Sid, we care about you!" insisted Ellie, eyes wide with care.

"Well-" Diego began, with a joking smile, but Manny stopped him.

"This is not the time for your dark, witty, sabre humour, Uber-Tracker," he told him firmly. Diego frowned at being effectively shushed, but he did manage to mentally crack a smile at the use of his old nickname from back when they all first met...they really had been together for so long now...Sid was right; they really should've remembered his big day after all these years.

"Alright, alright, maybe you do but..." Sid looked upset "The lot of you sure don't act like it."

And with that, Sid stormed off in a very uncharacteristic way, a furious look on his face...but there was still that slight hint of underlying hurt.

"Oh, gosh..." sighed Ellie "Shouldn't someone go after him?"

"Uhm...he'll bounce back?" suggested Manny half-heartedly. In all honesty, he was just shocked, as were they all. Sid? Incredibly angry? That didn't happen! Or...did it?

* * *

Shira lay at the side of the water hole, licking her paws. She'd just finished her first hunt, and was taking extra time to clean up any traces of her meal, since she remembered Diego reminding her to do so before she left the herd. As she was mulling this over in her mind, a very upset, and irritated, Sid marched past, barely noticing her. Because he'd made such a strong 'happy, friendly guy' impression on her, she was positive this was out of the ordinary for him.

"Sid!" she called, catching his attention "Something up?"

"Nothing you know about," he replied miserably, a tint of bitterness in his voice, before continuing to walk away.

Shira leapt up and blocked his path. "Wait! If I don't know - which I don't - then _tell _me. Maybe I can help!"

He shook his head. "Not unless you can make your boyfriend and the rest of the herd kinder...and better at remembering stuff."

"Seriously Sid, what's the matter?" asked Shira, really sounding concerned. It was this concern that actually convinced him to tell her. Besides, _she _hadn't actually done anything wrong, had she? She didn't _forget_, she was just never _told_ about it, thanks to Diego.

"It's just..." all that remained of Sid's anger melted into sadness, and his words came pouring out in loud sobs "Today is my birthday, and nobody remembered it!"

"Oh, Sid..." Shira placed a paw on his shoulder "I'm sorry, I didn't know, I-"

"Yeah, Diego mentioned he never told you," he interrupted, ruffling her ears playfully, but carefully enough so as not to hurt her "Don't worry, you aren't one of my problems."

"Good. Now c'mon. Let's go take a walk to get away from your 'problems'," she turned to walk off, but upon noticing his confusion, explained "The herd. Let's get away for a bit. It'll calm you down."

He nodded. "Okay..." he licked his claws and smoothed out the fur on top of his head "But I gotta warn ya, there are a lot of ladies who want to get their paws on Sid the sloth so you'll have to be prepared to share or-"

Shira placed a paw over his mouth to cut him off. "No, Sid. There is no way in this world I will ever find you..." she gagged slightly "_Attractive_. And if you touch my ears again..."

"Yeah?" prompted Sid.

Shira smirked evilly. "Just consider learning to sleep with your eyes open."

He gulped. "Point taken."

* * *

_**One hour later**_

"-so then, I drew faces on the eggs and named them Egbert, Shelley and Yolko, and vowed to look after them forever and ever," Sid paused, presumably for breath, in the reciting of the story about the time he adopted three baby dinosaurs.

Shira faked a smile. "So, why didn't you?" she asked, all too sweetly. She was absolutely, totally _dying_ to know what happened next, wasn't she? No. In all truth, she was sick of the story by now. Sid wasn't explaining it too well, and she didn't really care an awful lot to start with. But Sid was sad, and she felt as though she oughtta, as a member of his herd and family, cheer him up and make him feel wanted.

"Oh, well, their _real _mother came up to the surface and took them back home," replied Sid casually.

Curiosity piqued. "What? There was a _dinosaur mom _up here?!"

"Yeah," answered Sid, utterly carefree about the entire thing "She took me too, since I refused to leave the kids."

Shira's eyes widened. "Seriously?! Wow, you guys have even more exciting lives than I thought!"

"That's nothing!" bragged Sid, gaining confidence "Once, I was kidnapped by a whole tribe of mini-sloths! I was their Fire King..."

"Really, Sid?" Shira just wasn't buying this one "Okay, I'll admit, I went with the whole dinosaur thing, even though it was far-fetched, but _a tribe of mini-sloths_?! I may've grown up at sea, but I'm not an idiot, Sid."

"No, no, I'm serious!" he insisted "They stole me in the night and they totally worshipped me! Oh, how they _worshipped _me! Sure, they tossed me into a flaming pit of lava, but they _did _worship me! Before that, I mean. They did Shira, honest! Stop rolling your eyes at me like that!"

As Sid's comment suggested, Shira was rolling her azure eyes at him by this point. "C'mon Sid, worshipped by mini-sloths? That's a little out there, even for you. Don'tcha think?"

"But it's _true_, Shira, honest!" Sid grabbed the sabress's shoulders and shook her "If I knew where they were I'd _show _you!"

"I think I know where they are, Sid," she told him, tapping the side of his head with one claw.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm saying they're in your imagination."

"They aren't!" he whined, casting his gaze to the sky in frustration, therefore not seeing Shira freeze in place all of a sudden "Like I said, if I knew where they were I'd show you, but I have no idea!"

"I-I think I know where they are, Sid..." she stammered, shaking a little bit.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, in my imagination; you mentioned this to me earlier!" he dismissed her words with a wave of his paw.

"N-no, l-look..." she shakily extended her claw and pointed at something behind Sid. Cautiously, he turned, and saw a rather unusual sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of small, multi-coloured sloths stood in rows, staring bleakly and blankly at the duo.

"M-my...my people..." Sid couldn't believe it. He hadn't seen those little guys for, uhm, er...well, since the Meltdown when they met Ellie, Crash and Eddie, at least. And now, all of a sudden, they had appeared out of the blue _here_? On the new island? Sid had wondered what had become of his fan club, whether or not they survived the Continental Drift...clearly, they had.

"Fire King..." breathed the leader of the mini-sloths, a purple female with blue fur on her head "We bow before you."

"Er...hello?" he said tentatively.

"Hello!" they all yelled in unison. Shira leapt back in sudden shock, unable to grasp the fact that this was actually happening. _This was an actual moment in her life..._it was insane. Not that life with the herd was generally normal, though.

"M-mi-mi-min..." she stuttered, flabbergasted to the point of she had forgotten how to form sentences.

"Mini-sloths?" Sid finished for her "Yeah. They're cool, right guys?"

"Right!" shouted every one of the sloths before them.

"So...they copy _everything_ you say?" questioned Shira.

He nodded. "Not just that. They also copy what I do, too. Look, check this out!"

He then proceeded to chant words of gibberish and perform odd gestures and actions, showing the mini-sloths what to do in their little song and dance. They still performed it perfectly, except Shira stayed beside Sid the whole time, coz these guys totally gave her the creeps, and it didn't end with Sid all tied up. Instead, the mini-sloths formed a large ring, all bowing, around Sid and Shira. Seconds after the song had finished, the latter collapsed, unconscious with amazement and shock.

Sid shrugged. "Guess she was tired," he concluded, before handing out orders to his minions "Everybody, let's go back to your home!"

"Home!" repeated the mini-sloths.

"Oh, and..." Sid selected a group of mini-sloths at random "You guys take my friend. She's carnivorous, but she won't hurt you. I think she's just had her meal. Plus she's knocked out anyway, so what harm could she do?"

Quickly, the chosen sloths picked up Shira's body, while the rest dashed off to wherever their home was, leaving Sid stood alone in the field.

"Hey! Don't forget the Fire King!"

Instantly, a few of the sloths returned, and carried their King away.

* * *

"Where is she?" fretted Diego, pacing.

"Where is he?" mumbled Manny, also pacing.

Diego stopped. "Wait, who are you worried about?"

"Sid, he's been gone for ages," he replied "Who are _you_ worried about?"

"Shira," he answered "I haven't seen her since she left this morning. I'm worried something went wrong and she's alone, injured...or worse."

"I doubt it; Shira's tough," Manny reassured hinm "But Sid isn't, what if he got into trouble somewhere? There could be ninety rhinos chasing him off a cliff right now!"

"...I think _ninety_ rhinos combined would have enough brain power to catch a sloth, Manny," pointed out Diego.

"That's not the point!" he snapped. Silence descended over the pair for a minute, before... "Hey," Manny spoke up "You don't think those two are together, do you?"

"What? No! Shira's _my_ girlfriend, Manny!" retorted Diego, before blushing at what he had said.

Manny smiled. "I'll tease you about that later, preferably when Shira's nearby to make things more humiliating. What I meant was, maybe she's keeping an eye on him or something?"

After a short moment of thought, Diego shook his head. "Unlikely."

"True," admitted Manny "But it is possible. I mean, Shira _does_ have a heart, right?"

"Of course she does," replied Diego "How could we have fallen in love with each other if she didn't?"

"Well, someone's being open with feelings today, aren't you?" commented Manny.

Diego shrugged. "I figured I can't really lose any more pride after the whole 'girlfriend' outburst a second ago."

"Fair enough," agreed Manny "Anyway, I think this all just strengthens my theory."

"But still...Shira hanging out with Sid?" inquired Diego "I can't see that ever happening."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

* * *

Groggily, Shira blinked open her eyes, observing her surroundings with curiosity. She found she was lying on her back on a rock, with what seemed to be a colony of mini-sloths around her. That in itself frightened her a tad. Sid was sat nearby on a throne of rocks and stones, a leaf crown adorning his head. Raising an eyebrow, Shira tried to sit up, but discovered that the sloths were holding her down.

"No, no, you must rest," instructed the purple sloth - the leader, Shira believed - as she stroked the sabre's head "You may have damaged yourself during your fall."

"My...fall?"

"Yes, you fell unconscious," explained the leader.

"I did?" Shira was confused "Oh, okay...y'know, for such a species, you're surprisingly advanced."

"Thank you," replied the leader "We actually get that quite a lot."

Shira smiled, liking this sloth for some reason. "So, what's your name?"

"My name is Maji*****," she answered "And I know already that yours is Shira. Now rest, you will need it."

"But...what about Sid?" she pointed to the sloth, who was currently entertaining some of the younger sloths.

Maji shrugged. "He seems just fine to me."

"I guess..." Shira sighed "But we really need to be getting home soon..."

"Can't you stay for longer?" whined Maji pleadingly.

"Well..." Shira looked into Maji's eyes, and saw friendliness and hope, two qualities she admired. And as she glanced around, she saw that the majority of the mini-sloths were setting up for what appeared to be some kind of celebration...a birthday party for Sid! That's what it was! The birthday party Sid had wanted and been denied...she couldn't take it away from him "I suppose the herd won't miss us _that_ much..."

* * *

_**Several hours** **later**_

Famous last words. Turns out, Shira was completely wrong. The herd missed them a lot, and were actually worried about them. This surprised both Shira and Sid, as neither thought they were particularly cared about. Diego had taken Shira into their cave to 'discuss leaving without warning', but the possums had a far more interesting theory on what those two were up to...

Sid, on the other hand, had received his lecture from Manny. Luckily, that was over now, and they were onto the nice part of the conversation.

"Sid, I think I speak on behalf of the whole herd when I say: we were very wrong to forget your special day. I know it's very late, but happy birthday."

Sid smiled. "Thanks Manny."

"No problem," he said "Oh, and we also agreed, as a herd, not to be cruel to you anymore. No more yelling...unless it's deserved.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Good, coz..." Sid scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Sid...what did you do...?"

"Uhm..."

Maji suddenly appeared in front of Manny. "We are ever so grateful for you allowing me and my hundreds of fellow mini-sloths to stay in the presence of both you and the Fire King, Mr. Moody Manfred," she told him.

"..."

"Manny?"

"SIIIIDDDD!"

"...what happened to no more yelling?"

**And, done! So so sorry it's late! **

***I have no idea what her real name is, but I highly doubt it's Maji. I actually got that from a Lion King fanfic I read the other day on my phone, so yeah, that probably isn't true.**

**Well, happy belated birthday John Leguizamo, thanks for reading and please review! Oh, and I will add a cover and everything soon, I'm kinda just getting it posted before midnight at the moment, lol. xD**


End file.
